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THE GOP’S SISYPHEAN PUNISHMENT FOR SUPPORTING TRUMP  
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Marc Elias
September 6, 2024
Democracy Docket
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_ The political professionals remaining in the GOP insist that
mail-in voting is part of their get-out-the-vote (GOTV) program even
as Trump vilifies mail-in voting. To defeat Trump, voters need to
actually get out the early and mail-in vote. _

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In ancient mythology, Sisyphus was condemned for eternity to
repeatedly push a heavy boulder up a hill only to have it roll back
down when it neared the top. I am reminded of the story of Sisyphus
every time a well-meaning journalist reports on the latest effort by
the establishment GOP to have the party embrace mail-in voting for
2024.

For four years, Republican party operatives have tried to convince
Donald Trump to stop attacking mail-in voting. Every time they appear
close to achieving their goal, Trump steps in and rolls the boulder
back down the hill. Like Sisyphus, those arguing within the GOP to
embrace mail-in voting are attempting something that is both brutally
difficult and ultimately futile.

After the 2022 midterms, many Republicans began sounding the alarm
that the party’s insistence on Election Day in-person voting was
costing them elections. While Democrats were able to get out the vote
over the course of weeks, Republicans were limited to a single day.

Bowing to this reality, in June 2023 the Republican National
Committee announced
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new “Bank Your Vote” campaign, which encouraged “in-person early
voting, absentee voting, and ballot harvesting where legal.” Trump,
who was still obsessed with the results of the 2020 election,
reluctantly starred in a video
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reading from a teleprompter and begrudgingly echoing the same message.

The GOP thought it had achieved its goal. The boulder was near the top
of the hill. We all know what happened next.

Donald Trump formally took control of the GOP after clinching the
nomination in March 2024. Among his first tasks was installing
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new chair, who campaigned for the job citing his past role in
successful voter suppression efforts, as well as his daughter-in-law
as vice chair.

Trump also installed a new senior counsel for election integrity —
Christina Bobb, the author of a book called “Stealing Your Vote: The
Inside Story of the 2020 Election and What It Means for 2024.” Bobb
would soon be indicted
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part of the Arizona fake elector scheme.

As a part of this shake up, “Bank Your Vote” was shuttered. In its
place, the Republican National Committee (RNC) stood up 
[[link removed]]“Grow
the Vote.” Once again, the campaign professionals hoped to use this
new launch to jumpstart a mail-in voting initiative. According to the
RNC at the time, Grow the Vote would, among other things, enhance
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ballot and mail-in programs.”

Grow the Vote was short-lived. Within a matter of months, the boulder
was back at the bottom of the hill.

The curse of Sisyphus is that — despite his repeated failures — he
was never allowed to stop trying to roll the boulder up the hill. The
curse of Trump is that the RNC cannot stop its futile efforts either.

_In a messaging dispute between Trump and faceless operatives, Trump
will win every time, even as it costs him and other Republicans their
elections._

In June, the RNC announced
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latest initiative: “Swamp the Vote.” Accompanied once again by a
slick website and Trump video of him uncomfortably reading from a
teleprompter, “Swamp the Vote” was greeted with great fanfare.

Republicans signaled that the grownups had finally won the internal
fight over mail-in voting.  Sisyphus had, they insisted, finally
pushed the boulder to the top of the hill.

Conservative leaning media proclaimed
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“Trump does 180 on mail-in voting with plans to ‘swamp’ the
vote.”

Except, he hadn’t and soon the boulder rolled back down the hill
just as it always has.

The Los Angeles Times recently acknowledged
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dilemma. “The Republican presidential nominee — who falsely says
that mail-in voting is plagued by fraud and cost him the White House
four years ago — continues to trash the popular method of casting
ballots, complicating his own party’s efforts to get out the
vote.”

On Friday, Trump told
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Pennsylvania crowd that he and his campaign “want to get rid of
mail-in voting.” The boulder, as heavy as ever, sat at the bottom of
the hill once again.

I have no doubt that in the remaining weeks before the election, the
political professionals remaining in the GOP will again insist that
mail-in voting is part of their get-out-the-vote (GOTV) program even
as Trump vilifies mail-in voting and disclaims the need for any GOTV
program at all.

In a messaging dispute between Trump and faceless operatives, Trump
will win every time, even as it costs him and other Republicans their
elections. To be clear, no one should have sympathy for their
predicament. The Republican Party and their down ballot candidates are
reaping what they sowed.

The RNC let itself be controlled by Donald Trump. Its officers allowed
it to be run by his daughter-in-law and assorted sycophants. The other
candidates on the ballot eagerly promoted election denialism when they
thought it would help them in their primary elections.

The GOP’s punishment, to watch as Trump destroys their prospects for
November by opposing a popular form of voting, is lenient compared to
the damage they have done to our country and our democracy. Being
forced to repeatedly push a heavy boulder up a hill for eternity is
the least Republicans should expect.

_As the founder of Democracy Docket [[link removed]]
and Partner at Elias Law Group, Marc Elias
[[link removed]] is a nationally
recognized authority in voting rights, redistricting and law. In 2020,
Marc led the historic legal effort to protect voting rights, winning
over 60 lawsuits against the GOP’s efforts to suppress the vote. As
Republicans continue to mount aggressive challenges to voting, Marc
continues to fight back in court and on Twitter. Fighting for
democracy by his side is Marc’s Portuguese Water Dog named Bode._

_Democracy Docket [[link removed]] is a voting
rights and media platform that tracks election litigation. It has been
described as liberal-leaning and progressive. It was founded in 2020
by Democratic Party lawyer Marc Elias and is published by Democracy
Docket, LLC. (Wikipedia
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* elections
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* mail-in voting
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* early voting
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* Donald Trump
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